Archive

DEARNESS ALLOWANCE INCREASE FOR BANKERS FROMNOVEMBER, 2011 to January 2012

We have been projecting the DA for bank staff on many occasions. We have been on dot on number of occasions and our projections have been correct.

In the month of August, 2011, we again received large number of mails, requesting us to again project DA for November 2011 to January, 2012 period. In view of the large variation in inflation rates, we were reluctant as even Government of India and RBI have failed to project the inflation rate accurately even for one week or so.

Frequently they are forced to revised their projections. However, still we took the gamble and based on the available data we projected the DA from November, 2011. However, as there has been continued inflation, specially the food inflation in last few months, the CPI has shown unprecedented increase in recent years.

Now CPI has been announced for three relevant months which is as follows:-

Month

CPI

July 2011

4405.40

August 2011

4428.22

September, 2011

4496.70

Based on the above calculations the new DA will be @ 60.15%, for the months of November, December, 2011 and January, 2012 [The DA for October 2011 is 54.00%].

We have conservatively estimated to be at 59.40%.

There will be increase of 41 slabs. We give below the DA for November, 2011 onwards vis a vis existing DA, alongwith the increase in DA at various levels of scales. [As a matter of abundant caution, bankers must wait for final declaration of IBA and payments should be made as per bank circulars ]:-

The state government has decided to introduce an additional test for those who want teach in Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools

Applicants to teaching posts in the 17,000 state-aided Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools will have to first clear the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which has been proposed by the Union government.

Only those who score 60 per cent or above will be allowed to sit for the second and final recruitment test. The West Bengal School Service Commission will conduct both tests.

Till 2010, teachers in Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools were recruited through a single test. The two-step process will be in place by early 2012, when teacher recruitment exams will be held next.

“The new system is aimed at improving teaching standards and making the teaching and learning process more child-centric in state-aided schools,” said school service commission chairman Chittaranjan Mondal.

Graduates will be eligible to appear in TET. From 2014, it will be compulsory for candidates to also have a BEd degree.

The screening exam will test knowledge of child development and pedagogy with special focus on child psychology between ages 11 and 14 years. It will comprise 150 one-mark questions in four sections. Thirty-mark sections each on first language, second language, and child development and pedagogy will be compulsory. Candidates will also have to answer another 60-mark section on either science and math or social sciences.

In the final selection exams, candidates will have to answer essay-type questions.

In a bid to improve teaching standards in schools and ensure a uniform teaching system across the country to comply with a provision of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, the Centre had issued guidelines at the beginning of the year, asking state governments to introduce TET.

The Left Front government, which was in power then, had rejected the proposal and declared that it would continue with a single recruitment test for teachers.

Many veteran teachers and academicians have expressed concern about deteriorating teaching standards in state-aided schools in Bengal.

“Poor quality teaching and failure of schools to maintain a child-centric approach have been identified as causes for falling standards,” said a senior official of the school education department said.

Admission through lottery:The state government is planning to admit students to classes I to VIII through lottery. Currently, the lottery is held only to admit students to Class I. The move is likely to be implemented from the 2012-2013 session, said sources in the school education department.

The government plans to scrap the system of holding admission tests to comply with a provision of the Right to Education act.

The Union Public Service Commission will hold the Special Class Railway Apprentices’ Examination, 2012 on 29th January, 2012 for recruitment to the Special Class Apprentices in the Mechanical Department of Indian Railways. The examination will be held at various centers across the country. Candidates are required to apply only through online mode. No other mode for submission of application is allowed. For details regarding eligibility conditions, the syllabus and scheme of the examination, centres of examination, guidelines for filling up application form etc. aspirants must consult the Detailed Notice of the examination published in the Employment News/Rozgar Samachar dated 22nd October, 2011 or the UPSC website : http://www.upsc.gov.in.

The National Policy on Older Persons, 1999 envisages State support to ensure financial and food security, health care, shelter and other needs of older persons to improve the quality of their lives.The Ministry of Social Justice &Empowerment is implementing the scheme of integrated programme for Older Persons under which financial assistance is provided to Non-Governmental Organisation, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Local Bodies,etc. for running and maintenance of old age homes. An amount of Rs 60.73 lakh, Rs.52.02 lakh and Rs. 67.18 lakh were released to NGOs in Assam for running and maintenance OAHs under the scheme during 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11 respectively.Besides, Various concessions/Facilities like income tax rebate; concession in rail and air fare; separate queue for older persons and geriatric clinic in several government hospitals, etc.are provided to senior citizens by the Central Government.

The Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has developed a fully secured Government e-payment system for direct credit of dues from the Government of India into the account of beneficiaries using digitally signed electronic advice (e-advice) through the ‘Government e-Payment Gateway’ (GePG). The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the Government e-Payment System on Monday. Government e-Payment Gateway (GePG) is a portal which enables the successful delivery of payment services from Pay & Accounts Offices (PAOs) for online payment into beneficiaries’ accounts in a seamless manner under a secured environment. GePG serves as middleware between COMPACT (Computerized Payment and Accounts) application at Pay & Accounts Offices and the Core Banking Solution (CBS) of the agency banks/RBI to facilitate paperless transaction, reducing overall transaction cost and promoting green banking.

This system will bring transparency and expedite direct payments from central paying units relating to subsidies to the users and consumers of fertilizer, kerosene and cooking gas which is already a declared objective of the government. This will increase the adoption of other e-services due to its efficiency and ease-of-use for all Central Government Ministries and Departments for online payment transactions. The digitally signed e-advices uploaded by the PAOs on GePG portal is downloaded by the concerned banks to credit the beneficiaries’ accounts through CBS/NEFT/RTGS as applicable. The e-payment system will save time and efforts in effecting payments and will facilitate elimination of physical cheques and their manual processing. Further the constraints of manual deposit of cheque by the payees into their bank account would also be eliminated. The system will also have online reconciliation of transactions and efficient compilation of payment accounts.

Under the traditional system of government payments, paying units in central government are using cheque, cash, DD or in few ministries ECS for payments to employees and vendors. In the past few years RTGS and NET faculties provided by RBI are also being utilized for central government payments in various ministries through the banking channel.

As we start our festivities of Diwali 2011, my mind went to the powerful lessons that Diwali taught us all. These thoughts gathered momentum when I started thinking about the similarities of Diwali and financial planning. It made me realize that financial planning lessons were so simple, yet enlightening that even a 12 year old could master its principles and start financial planning for a lifetime.

Fireworks and Diwali

I have always enjoyed fireworks, both as a child as well as a parent and found that mine as well as my children’s safety and comfort lay in obeyed certain rules while handling fireworks. This included avoiding loose and flowing clothes and wearing appropriate footwear, goggles and protection for the ears. Next noisy crackers caused hearing, ENT and nervous problems, with smoke causing ENT and allergic problems. This made me come to the conclusion that we need to enjoy crackers and fireworks, but were excesses were to be avoided.

Safety applies to all Diwali, as it does to other aspects of life with our requiring reading and following instructions on the boxes. Next keeping of a bucket of water handy to put off fires and keeping numbers of fire stations proves handy. In addition vigilance and safety of children while using fireworks is to be adhered to, with keeping fireworks out of reach from children when not in use. My dear friends now is the right time to view the great co-relation between crackers/fireworks and financial planning.

Grasp the financial planning lessons Diwali teaches us:

ØModern science with its developments have been able to render us some very useful lessons like noise pollution that could affect not only infants, the old, and those with nervous, heart and psychiatric problems, but also cause slow declining abilities in many others.

This applies to noisy stocks also; this noise pollution in the form of everyone talking about hot stocks and best next issue. This information could also affect us with its full impact. This inside information may at times prove very dangerous if acted upon. We have observed many investors not only being be charged with fines and/jail, but it has been harmful to financial professionals as well. Next if they are rumors the financial harm could be too large to recoup and rejuvenate easily and quickly. It is worth understanding also that some information could be stale and if acted upon cause indigestions of the worst order.

ØThe next most close and interesting co-relation of fireworks and the colorful nature of the festival Diwali are being prepared for emergencies, with this meaning keeping water and the numbers of the nearby fire stations handy. This applies to also using long sparklers and incense sticks, avoiding the use of metal and glass containers and using fireworks in open grounds.

It is true that emergencies and contingencies are a part of everyone’s life and being a wise and smart financial planner requires not only planning for emergencies, but also for contingencies in the form of death. Finances in the form of term insurance could provide for the stable lifestyle of your loving family on death. Health insurance and critical health insurance plans would provide for health and critical illness coverage and stable lifestyle in such contingencies. The youth could benefit also with investing surplus funds on land in remote places and allow it to appreciate. Creating contingency funds could act as emergency fire extinguishers.

Ø I appreciate those who have listened to the experienced regarding wearing appropriate clothing, footwear and other safety accessories while enjoying fireworks. Financial planning for a lifetime also requires certain measures.

Understand that investing is different from financial planning for a lifetime.Financial planning requires clear understanding of the risks and returns available on the different investments like shares, mutual funds and fixed deposits in companies and banks So you need to draft a clear risk management strategies in while constructing your portfolio.

ØStoring of fireworks out of reach of children properly requires as much innovation as children are very smart to fool parents now-a-days and get into accidents and dangers. Parents need to be smart and creative to find out what works and what doesn’t. The same thing dear chums apply to safety and security of our investments.

Safety and appropriate storage of our precious investments in the form of shares, mutual funds, land and flat documents, gold and gold ETF, insurance and other investments lies in storing them in separate places in lockers at home/banks and other places. In addition to storage, the information regarding where we have stored these documents should be a family information and secret for safety.

Finally, we were taught by wise parents to not make our own fireworks, as it is not our expertise. Similarly a financial expert is the best person to advice us on financial planning for a lifetime. Finding and engaging a financial planner would be best to create and make changes in your financial planning according to your life’s changing circumstances.